To Fight
by Kimiko Heroux
Summary: Request two-shot for Dragonmaster789. Everyone is capable of fighting; you just have to find your reason to put up your fists.
1. Part 1

**.Author's Note. **

**This is a two-shot written by request of Dragonmaster789, who came to me months ago with the request and who has been really patient with me and my slow writing. The OCs here are not mine - they are the creations of Dragonmaster.**

**To anyone else reading this, requests are still closed, despite this request's completion.**

**I hope you like this, Dragonmaster and anyone else who ends up reading this!**

* * *

><p><span>To Fight<span>

"I get off at seven. Why don't we—?"

"Yoko!" An irritated Ayeka Jurai stomped her way over to the table her younger twin was serving, her pale blue eyes flaring and the bun containing her blue hair bouncing with every step. Securing her nimble fingers onto his earlobe, she dragged him from the customer with little refinement in the maneuver. Her voice dropped down to a scolding whisper as she frowned at him and made certain his attention was on her. "Ryoko, flirting with customers will get _you_ fired, and my calling you out on it will get _me_ fired. No matter how you spin it, nothing good will come outta this."

Ryoko tucked his serving tray under his arm and gave his scowling sister a warm, reassuring smile. "Actually, I'd say getting a date is a very good thing, Aya." He laughed lightly, his golden irises going into hiding as he did so, and turned to head back to the table, walking away with that stride of confidence. "You'll get in trouble if you don't get back to work, sis."

Ayeka huffed in exasperation and crossed her arms across her chest. Leaning back against the counter, she heard the bump of the device clipped to a loop of her dress slacks hitting against the pastry display case behind her. The sound snapped her back into attention, and pulling out her little notepad and pen from her back pocket, she headed to newcomer customers while murmuring, "Well, might as well not get fired today…"

With hours passed on by, time clocks punched, and bodies wearied from long hours, the Jurai twins began the short walk home. Ayeka let her short hair down from its bun to sweep across her face and touch her shoulders ever so lightly. It was when her hair was like this that the lavender streaks mixed in with the natural blue became prominent, when the streetlights could beam down upon it and the wind could toss it about freely in the dark.

In the midst of her mind wanderings, she was abruptly pulled out of her mind by a sudden grin sent her way from her brother. It was a rather goofy smile, all in all. His dark bangs hung in disheveled clumps upon his forehead, their tips almost reaching his eyelashes, and his lip was pulled up on one side more than the other. Ayeka knew he was about to speak, but she thought more would come out than just the two words that did, "Guess what."

She turned her nonchalant face towards him and bent an incredulous eyebrow. She took very little pleasure out of guessing games, if any. She gave him a little leeway, though, since he was her brother and decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. "What is it, Yoko?" she sighed, sliding her hair-tie around her wrist.

He was almost-overly pleased that she even decided to pursue the conversation. After having to be social the entire day at the café, usually she was quiet the rest of the night through to make up for it. "Well, I—"

"Wait."

Ayeka's crystalline eyes were trained to their quaint, little house which had just come into sight as they rounded the corner. She noticed it the instant it came into view, and instantly froze, her gaze locked onto the building. Something wasn't right. She unclipped the lavender and white device from her belt loop and questioned severely to the being inside it, "Do you sense anything wrong?"

She and Ryoko traded glances, and even before receiving an answer, they ran for their house. They slowed once their feet touched the yard in front and saw the front door wide open. They proceeded cautiously, eyes moving about faster than their feet while scanning for any peculiar details. As they climbed the few steps up onto the porch, a female voice spoke up from the metal device in Ayeka's grasp, "You're not going to like this, Aya…"

The twins again looked at each other, but longer this time, and Ayeka scowling with a good idea of what this bad news was and Ryoko clearly trying to hold back a growing distress. The golden-eyed twin was first to walk through the door, and Ayeka lingered outside. She scanned the doorframe and the door, looking for signs of a forced entry. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as far as she could see, and when she glanced inside the house, the interior seemed to be as it was when they left for work that morning.

"He's gone."

Ryoko's face was solemn as he returned to the entrance. He pulled out the device identical to his older sister's, albeit with a different color scheme. "He promised me he would behave and stay inside, so I let him remain Realized. I should've taken him with me."

"Well, it doesn't matter now. We have to go and find him." Ayeka looked to her device, staring down at the figure displayed in the screen with furrowed brows. She pressed one closed fist against her hip, trying not to eat away her own patience before the search even began. "Can you sense him? Is he somewhere in the vicinity?"

"Yeah, he's around here. I can't really pinpoint his location; he seems to be in motion. My apologies, Aya."

Ryoko made sure to close and lock the door behind him. His eyes filled with resolve. "Then let's split up; we'll cover more ground that way. The bikes are at the garage, so we'll have to go on foot." He squeezed his sister's arm. "If anything happens, don't hesitate to call me. Anything can happen when the sun goes down."

He received in response a silent nod and with nothing else to be said, they crossed the yard together, gave each other one last glance, and then departed quickly. Ayeka clipped her device to its loop again and sped up to a run. If someone found him before they did, they'd have a big problem; that was for certain. And who knew what sort of problems he'd already caused while running amok in the middle of the city?

"Aya, I sense him. He's close."

Ayeka heard the voice ring from her device but said nothing. She turned corner after corner, eyes and mind in full motion, and then—wait, when did she get to this part of the city? She came to a total halt and turned about abruptly, peering around and huffing in effort to catch her breath. How long was she running for, anyway? It didn't seem like that long, yet… What road was this? It wasn't even vaguely familiar to her with its flickering streetlights and cracked sidewalks; she watched a black cat saunter across the road with a mouse dangling from its mouth and made a face.

She pushed her fingers through her bangs and looked about. All seemed relatively peaceful; well, as peaceful as this city could get. The city was always bustling; if it wasn't one thing, it was another, and thus Yokohama was kept in relative liveliness every waking hour.

"Well, what do we have here? Looks like this little girl is lost."

Ayeka spun on a dime at the gruff voice. The man who had spoken stood less than three yards from her, a step in front of four men alike in his shadiness, and emitted a caution-worthy air. The dark-haired girl instantly stiffened at the sight of them lined up and all watching her with piqued, intense interest. She ground her teeth and mentally cussed, not taking her eyes off of them. _As if situations couldn't get any more cliché…_

Remaining silent, she affirmed her stance and reached for that device hanging off her hip. Her fingers wrapped around the cold metal, but not once did she peer down at it for reassurance. She wasn't nervous; she didn't need _that_ sort of reassurance. She could handle it with no problem. Her bright eyes were daring them; blue flames ignited within her irises.

"Don'tchya know that only cowards pick on girls?"

Her head snapped aside at the new voice, her gaze instantly locking on a teenage boy around her age with brown hair and hazel eyes, clad in a red button-up over a simple white tee and jeans. He approached smoothly and took up a place beside her, albeit a half-step ahead of her. Her eyes trained onto a familiar device in his grasp.

She frowned. "I don't need your help. I can handle this myself."

The boy gave a short laugh. "I wouldn't be so sure." He glanced back at her, grinning and continued speaking jocundly. "See that guy right there; he's got a mean right hook. And that guy there? He keeps a knife on him at all times. And that guy—"

Cutting him off, she was no more impressed than vexed, "And exactly how would you know this?"

He seemed overly pleased that she asked. He thrust his hands onto his hips and didn't hesitate to whip out a can of cheekiness. "'Cause I'm Marcus Damon; I'm the number one ultimate fighter in Japan! And it just so happens I beat these doofs last week and—"

This time he was cut off by someone else. Someone else entirely.

"BOSS!"

Marcus turned at the name—causing Ayeka to give him a skeptical look. Was he this _boss_?—and running up to them was the source of the voice that had wailed. And that voice belonged to a yellow dinosaur with red training braces that looked like he was freaking out majorly. It may have been because of the fact that flames were leaking out of his gaping mouth, because he did _not_ look too happy about it.

And if the situation in its entirety wasn't deranged enough, between the appearances of the fire-breathing dinosaur and _the_ Marcus Damon, the once-threatening guys decided to back off while no one was looking (as they didn't know if a better fate would be fighting a dinosaur or fighting Marcus) just so they could live another day.

But, in actuality, no one realized the men's disappearance, as the yellow reptile had other issues in mind. "Boss, that salsa Sarah made is really spicy! My mouth is on fire!" On cue, he sneezed, releasing a demonic combination of fiery inferno and snot.

Which nearly fried Marcus Damon on the spot.

"You aren't kidding, Agumon!" Caught between a grin and a disturbed expression, the brown-haired teen gave the dinosaur a friendly bop on the head. "My mom knows how to make a mean salsa!"

"Why do you have a Digimon?"

Ayeka's solemn question was so quiet that Marcus almost missed it entirely. She was the only one to remain immersed in the gravity of the situation, rather than get carried away by other, invading topics. Her stare was pointed, her arms were crossed, and she was anything but pleased. After receiving a raised eyebrow from the boy in question, she repeated herself, more irritated this time, "_Why_ do you have a _Digimon_?"

"Agumon's my partner and bud, not to mention my employee." At the last word, the dark-haired girl mentally questioned but remained entirely stone-faced. "I should be asking you questions. Like, why do you even know what Digimon are?"

She curled her fingertips into her opposite arms. "This isn't about me, idiot." She analyzed his face, seeing his and hers shared mutual irritation. She repeated herself once again, fiercer than the last. "_Why_ do you have a _Digimon_?!"

He threw his hands up, and once again, Ayeka's eyes shot to the device in one instantly. "Look, I work for DATS—the Digital…uh…Digital…" He stopped and furrowed his brows. After a pause, he started over. "I work for DATS, so of course I have a Digimon. Agumon and me, we make the best fighting team!" He got an intense fire in his eyes and it seemed like he was going to start a big spiel, but then stopped, suddenly becoming suspicious. "So what's _your _connection to Digimon, lady?"

"I don't have to tell you anything." Ayeka pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at him. "But my name is not _lady_; it's Ayeka. I'll tell you that much."

Marcus scrutinized her for a second, but the sound of something beeping prevented him from doing anything more, as he quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out a small earpiece. He clipped it to his ear and pressed a button on it. "Yeah?" he questioned a bit grouchily, casting Ayeka a scowl that blatantly said, 'You're to blame.' He waited, holding that look and listening to whoever was speaking to him.

The dark-haired girl before him popped a hip and placed a hand upon it, impatiently waiting for him. The name of that organization he'd mentioned struck a little bit of a chord with her; DATS, he had said. She tossed around the name, trying to pinpoint where she may've heard the name before. Before she had thought twice, her device that matched the one Marcus had in his hand was staring her in the face from her palm. _Are these the connection? Between Yoko and I, I know of no one else that has one of these…_

As she stood in thought, Marcus grouchily ended his call, his teammate on the other side not too happy with him (but then again, when was he _happy_ with him?), and stopped abruptly when he saw what Ayeka had in her hand. "Wait a sec, lady! Why do you have a Digivice?!" That look that he gave her at that second was one she could probably never imitate; she had a feeling that expression was Marcus-exclusive.

"None of your business," she scoffed, albeit a little too stubbornly.

Yeah. Just a little _too_ stubbornly.

He suddenly grinned and casting his gaze only for a split-second towards his partner, he responded, "Yes, it is."

Flawless in motion, he snatched her Digivice from her hand, and with a fluid scoop, Agumon (still smoldering a little from the mouth) hoisted the unsuspecting girl up off the ground, his claws holding her tight about the waist. The brown-haired teen grinned, and whimsically reassured her, "I have full right to take you into custody so you don't wanna struggle too much."

If a single gaze could commit murder, there'd be a dead DATS member and his Digimon in one second. "No, you don't! What rights would _you _have?! You're no older than me!" She scrunched up her face and little wrinkles appeared on the bridge of her nose. Then against her better judgment and all ranges of self-defense she'd learned prior, the one thing she resorted to was kicking—no, it was more like flailing—her legs in hopes that she'd hit at least _something_.

"Well, you're obviously not planning on talking to me, so I'm taking you back to DATS HQ. Plus I can tell when a person is about to take a swing at me." His hazel eyes lingered upon her, revealing amusement in all of this. "You brought this upon yourself, lady."

"Boss, isn't this illegal?" Agumon piped up, but still holding Ayeka tight.

If Marcus's grin could've physically gotten wider, it probably would have. "Only if you get caught, Agumon!"

Muttering obscenities under her breath, Ayeka wasn't even relatively charmed by his lame excuse for basically kidnapping. Not that he wasn't exactly _wrong_ in that she wasn't going to spill anything to him, nor would she have come kindly, but that was a different thing entirely to just _assume _that of her. "Again, my name is _not _lady."

"Mhmm…" Marcus didn't bat an eye in her direction at the remark. All of this was far too fun for him.

_Well_, she furrowed her brows and proceeded to glare at the back of his shirt, _this guy's just a piece of work._


	2. Part 2

This "DATS HQ", as Marcus called it, was a large building settled by the harbor. Admittedly, Ayeka had seen it before, but she'd never questioned as to what it was for despite never knowing. And the inside seemed even larger than the outside, filled with long, wide halls and large rooms filled with computers and what seemed to be all the latest of every sort of technology. Whoever these DATS people were, they sure were well-equipped for whatever they did. _They must've gotten government funding for their operations, _Ayeka figured.

When they stood before a door that looked no different than the ones they'd previously passed, Agumon dropped Ayeka back onto her feet, and instantly she snatched back her Digivice from Marcus, who didn't make a move to stop her. She stared down at her reflection in the small screen, noticing that perpetual frown didn't waver in the midst of this, and saw a sympathetic gaze looking back at her.

The door slid open easily, and revealed a giant room with monitors and computers of every sort. There were a handful of people dressed in unusual uniforms, but Ayeka only focused on one person in particular of whom she did recognize. "Yoko!?"

The younger twin spun around and locked eyes. "Aya." A smile appeared as he said her name. "I'm glad they found you."

Shifting her eyes narrowly at Marcus and his partner, she murmured her reply, "I'm not."

"Well, it's a good thing they had, otherwise you'd still be out wandering the streets somewhere. The later it gets, the more dangerous; you know that." Despite his words, Ryoko still held within his eyes a soft, trusting glance.

Ayeka in turn narrowed her eyes, but still remained composed upon the matter. She knew that her younger brother was only playing older brother as he always had a habit of doing. "I know, Yoko. Even if something did happen, I'm sure I would've been able to handle it; otherwise, I have—"

She was cut off abruptly by Marcus, who felt a need to invade on the conversation. "What do you have? You're lucky I was there, lady!"

Their glares smoldered wildly at each other, and one could've easily (and rightly) assumed that a physical fight was about to break out between them. If there was tension building up anywhere, it was in the small gap that lay between Ayeka and Marcus.

"If I may interrupt, there is a matter to be discussed."

Upon that note, a fairly handsome, blond teen approached briskly, accompanied by a two-legged, blue dog Digimon with boxing gloves. Just a step or two behind them was a slightly older girl, her eyes and hair a burgundy-red, and her Digimon, a flower bud-looking creature. The two young adults were both clad in similar uniforms, his blue and hers a dark pink.

Ayeka and Marcus simmered down reluctantly, enticed by a serious stare coming from the blond's direction. With them quiet and the tension down considerably (but still enough to feel it in the air about them), he began to get down to business, "All right, after discussing matters with both my associates here at DATS and Ryoko Jurai—"

Ayeka gave a sideways glance to her brother, trying to pinpoint with her eyes what he would've told these people.

"—I have come to several conclusions regarding the matter at hand." His eyes—a piercing blue—came to rest on the Jurai twins, but his overall expression didn't change. "First off, I would like to introduce myself. I'm Thomas H. Norstein, and I'm a member of the Digital Accident Tactics Squad or as one would know it, DATS. Secondly, based on the recent happenings, I feel we may be working side-by-side for a time."

The first thing that came to Ayeka's mind to do was to let her mouth fall slightly agape on one side. The second thing was to crudely question. "Wait, wait, wait. _What_?! I don't know about _you_ or your _organization_, and I certainly don't want to help you if I've been dragged here against my will by one of your lackeys."

As if on cue, Marcus, the dubbed "lackey", made a sound of distaste at the name.

Thomas was unfazed by the harsh tone. In fact he remained entirely composed in both his expression and his professional stance, and all he did was make an equally-composed response. "I realize this seems to be coming out of nowhere, and your reaction is quite within reason; however, I have requested the presence of someone I believe both of you are well-acquainted with who is ideally informed of your standing with both DATS and Digimon as a whole."

At this, the main doors slid open and in walked two men—one a tall, serious man with shades and a ferret- or weasel-type Digimon resting around his neck, and the other a shorter, older man with a friendly face.

Upon seeing the older man, both Jurai siblings were confused, but only Ryoko showed it on his face. Ayeka only narrowed her eyes at DATS's attempt at using him to sway them in the direction of joining. It was a typical government sort of stunt to pull.

Because not only did they know this man, but they were related to him. Homer Yushima was his name, and he was their great uncle, and the one who had first given the two teens their Digivices. But he had never, ever mentioned something as extensive as an organization like this one. Clearly the elderly fisherman had some secrets under that sunhat of his.

"Children." His eyes were soft yet rather baggy. Probably got a good night's sleep interrupted to come out here. "I was hoping our next get-together wasn't regarding these sort of matters, but I'm afraid we don't have much choice."

"You're not honestly with these guys, are ya, Great Unc?" Had Ayeka's voice been any higher, it probably would've sounded like a whine, but it stopped at a pitch that sounded most like a disbelieving complaint.

"I'm sorry, Aya." He didn't sound sorry at all. Rather, there was a hint of a smile playing on his mouth. "How do you think I can afford to fish all the time? This is organization is my pride and joy, and everyone who works here is very dear to me, just like family."

Ayeka got the feeling that he compared DATS to his family on purpose. But rather than call him out on it, Thomas began to fill in the details of the situation.

"This is Commander Sampson. He is the one that suggested you come here." As Thomas gestured to the tall, almost shady-looking man, he in question gave a nod in greeting. "Because as luck may have it, DATS may not be equipped well enough to take on what's coming."

He nodded to the commander, and the older man continued, "Which is why we are reaching out to you. Ayeka, Ryoko. Your great uncle has informed me that you both have Digimon partners of your own and are fully capable of holding your own. Is this true?"

The twins looked at each other in contemplation. They shared an identical look before proceeding to pull out their Digivices and simultaneously say, "Realize."

Before Ryoko appeared a rather short, dark-colored Digimon. His face was rather devious, and there was a little angry face on his chest that only looked more so. Around his neck was a tattered red bandana.

And before Ayeka was a tall, yellow, bipedal fox Digimon. Her face was composed and almost entirely expressionless, and she held herself with a distinct level of calmness. Her fur on her chest was snow white, and her paws and lower arms were covered by purple gauntlets.

"This is my partner Renamon." Ayeka shared an identical, nonchalant expression with her partner. They didn't use many words to communicate when Renamon was Realized, typically just a number of gestures and facial expressions; Ayeka had never found anyone she could relate to so closely as her dear partner.

Ryoko gestured to his Digimon. "And this is Impmon, whom some of you already are familiar with." At this, his twin gave him a look, and he explained, "When we were out searching for him, Aya, I happened to run into Thomas who was tracking his signal; he's the whole reason why we're here in the first place."

Ayeka wanted to hurt the little, purple imp. If the little punk hadn't decided to run off, they would've been at home and happily oblivious of this whole DATS-thing. But no, of course he'd run off at the first opportunity, leaving the Jurai twins to chase him all over Yokohama. Unfortunately that was so characteristic of Ryoko's partner that it was almost absurd.

"I told ya already why!" Impmon cut in, looking up at everyone in turn. When everyone was looking back, he frowned. His voice lost most of its volume, leaving him with a mutter. "Somethin' big is comin'. And I'm gonna beat it."

A look from Renamon told Ayeka that she could confirm the impending arrival of such a thing. And Ayeka didn't want anything to do with it. "But—"

"Well, in that case, Agumon and me have it covered!" Marcus threw up his fist and gave a great big snaggletooth grin. "We'll send that whatever-it-is packin'!"

"I'm afraid a feat such as that wouldn't be so simple," Thomas cut in, unimpressed with the brunet's enthusiasm. Clearly that particular expression of his was well-rehearsed, since it seemed to fit on his face more than any other expression he'd possessed that night. He crossed his arms and looked again to the commander.

Sampson exchanged a nod with the blond-haired teen, and the tall, built man elaborated, "From the data that we've compiled, this doesn't seem like an ordinary Digimon. The digital wave frequency is unlike anything we've witnessed in the past." His face grew somehow even more solemn than moments before. "And unfortunately, we've already had our share of digital anomalies."

"Which is exactly why helping you is a horrible excuse of a plan." Ayeka gingerly put her hands onto her hips, but her shoulders were raised taut with stress. She wasn't about to fold, no matter how many ways they tried to convince her that she should risk her life to fight off this "digital anomaly". "If you're some grandiose government organization like you say you are, then I don't see why you can't take care of this yourselves." She returned Renamon to her Digivice and turned away. "C'mon, Yoko. Let's go home."

"Actually, Aya, I'm going to stay. I want to help them."

The dark-haired girl froze, not turning to see the sincerity in her brother's golden eyes. Because she heard it. She didn't have to see him to feel it. And honestly—if she dared be honest to herself—it hurt. Ryoko was her brother, her twin no less, and the only times they had a divergence of opinion was when it was something like who made the meals that day, not anything as serious as this.

When she didn't do anything, Ryoko continued, and while his sister couldn't see it, he held up his Digivice, "I feel like…because we were given Digivices and partners we have some sort of obligation to help them. We were given a gift that up to now, we've done nothing with. I somehow get the notion that this our time to make use of it. You can be as stubborn and hardheaded as you want, but I am going to do what I can to help DATS."

Ayeka's face scrunched up. _Stubborn and hardheaded…_ She felt a pang upon lamenting over the words, but refused to tell herself what kind of pang it was. She curled her fingers up into fists and muttered, "Well, all right then. I guess that's that."

And with nothing more, she left.

* * *

><p>It was dark.<p>

Ayeka had no idea what time it was when she left the DATS HQ and began her trek back home. Yokohama was lighted enough twenty-four-seven, but it still didn't make the walk back in the middle of the night any more comfortable. Just because there were street lights, didn't make the route to her house completely safe.

And as she made her way down the sidewalk, just a few blocks from DATS, a car pulled to the curb next to her.

She furrowed her brows and was about to walk faster—maybe even run if need be—when a voice came from the now-rolled down driver's seat window, "Hey, Ayeka."

The femininity of the voice drew her eyes over to the driver. It was that lady with the burgundy hair from back at DATS; she hadn't talked at all then, but if Ayeka hadn't recognized her face, the uniform she was wearing would've said enough.

Ayeka frowned and crossed her arms around her chest, ready to plead her case once again. "I already told you guys; I'm not helping—"

"I know." At Ayeka's unmasked surprise, the young woman smiled. "I just thought you'd want a ride home."

_It was probably Yoko's doing_, she figured with a grimace as she silently complied and got into the front passenger's seat. She buckled up, and when the DATS member put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb, she propped her elbow on the sill and put her cheek into her open palm, scowling out the window.

"I don't think I introduced myself." It didn't surprise Ayeka when the burgundy-haired woman began speaking after just a couple minutes of silence. "I'm Yoshino Fujieda. You can just call me Yoshi if you want." Yoshi didn't look surprised when she didn't get a response, so she just decided to keep talking with the knowledge Ayeka had no choice but to listen. "Your brother mentioned that you and he are twins. You seem very close."

Ayeka furrowed her brows at the mention of her brother and debated whether or not she wanted to answer that comment. She eventually decided that it probably wouldn't hurt, given that she really didn't have anything to hide, even if it did leave the confidence of the car. "We've always been together..."

Yoshi smiled at the prospect. "That's really nice. But I'm sure you've had your arguments like all other siblings, right?" She stifled a slight laugh.

"Not really." The reply was flat and simple because the truth itself was honestly that straightforward. She only decided to elaborate for Yoshi's benefit, but there wasn't that much to elaborate on. "We bicker sometimes, but never really argue."

"Well, then maybe—" She cut herself off when suddenly was forced to slam on the brakes, unless be trampled by whatever just stomped its gigantic foot right in front of the car.

Staring out the window and trying to look up at the creature—a Digimon she assumed—and its face, Ayeka swore under her breath. If Yoshi's reflexes hadn't been so keen, they would've been totally crushed. There wasn't a single doubt in her mind about that; that Digimon was _enormous_. She was even getting a nervous vibe from Renamon in her Digivice, who typically was pretty much unruffled by anything, big or small. This Digimon must've had _power—_it must've had a real, larger-than-life reason to be feared.

But it certainly wasn't feared by one.

This _one_ was Marcus Damon, who was now running across the street after the Digimon.

Ayeka, watching with an unamused stare at the brunet as he disappeared down the street, had been ignoring Yoshi who'd been talking over her earpiece until the DATS member addressed her directly, "Ayeka, I apologize, but if you don't want to be involved, then you'll have to walk from here. It's my job to keep Marcus from doing something idiotic."

Though that was Yoshi's attempt to make a joke, Ayeka only pursed her lips and unbuckled. She got out, and Yoshi gave a short goodbye and tore off down the street after her teammate.

For a moment, Ayeka just stood there, thinking and staring off where they'd all disappeared. _What a crazy organization_, was her only thought before beginning the rest of the walk home. It wasn't far—that short drive with Yoshi had made a difference—but when she came to her house, the inside totally dark, she almost smiled a little. At least she almost did until she remembered her brother's whereabouts.

She unlocked the door, let herself inside, and immediately looked at the clock. It was late. Too late. She let Renamon out of her Digivice to make herself comfortable and got ready for bed. Not that sleep was going to come easy that night, but she resolved to at least get a few hours before work tomorrow, er, later that day.

So as she laid under cold covers, staring hard at the ceiling above her, she tried in vain to shove her raging thoughts to the back of her mind so she could get a little rest. But it was weird. Here she was, pretending everything was normal, that her meeting DATS had changed nothing, but she knew the exact opposite was the truth. Just being in bed in her room without Ryoko in the next room over gave her a peculiar feeling in her stomach, like some sort of balance was upset.

It wasn't like she was getting a bad vibe from the DATS members themselves; they all seemed like they had pretty good heads on their shoulders. Well, most of them at least. Marcus seemed to have a bit to learn in the area of sense—perhaps Thomas could spare some of his.

Ayeka groaned aloud and rolled over to press her face into her pillow, feeling her face beginning to heat up. Even though she'd just met them briefly, they already seemed so three-dimensional. She _shouldn't _have paid so much attention to them—she should've walked away when she had the chance; she was feeling like she could characterize them properly now. It was her goal to stay unattached to such people and their organizations, especially emotionally unattached. But what was she supposed to do now that her _twin_ was one of these people?

Without warning, Renamon burst into the room, her hair standing up on end. "Ayeka!"

The dark-haired girl shot up in bed, and she would've been quick to question what the matter was, but there was no time. No time to speak, act, or do anything of the sort.

Because before either of them could blink, the Digimon Ayeka saw previously almost crush her in Yoshi's car kicked the roof clear off her house.

With wide eyes, she watched it step over her house, and she clutched her blanket for dear life. She swore. _This is clearly a sign._

And not even thirty seconds later, bursting through the front door and darting through to the back door, shouting profane words of challenge up at the giant Digimon, was Marcus Damon.

"Son of a—" Yanking on sweatpants and grabbing her Digivice, she called for Renamon, and together, the two of them went out the back door in pursuit of the Digimon and Marcus, all the while knowing that this was all going to be regretted later.

When she got outside and took off running, the damage was obvious. She was lucky that she'd only got the roof kicked off of her house, because there were a lot of houses much worse of than hers. And seeing the wreckage all around her hurt.

She finally caught up with the brunet DATS member and his partner. At her arrival, he just batted an eye her direction and showed off a slight grin. "So you did decide to help us after all." He looked to his partner. "Don't worry; Agumon and I have this. You can just sit here and watch how the ultimate team does things 'round here!"

"Sorry to rain on your parade, Marcus." Yoshi and Thomas caught up, their own partners in tow. Yoshi smiled at the narrow-eyed look Marcus gave her for intruding. "But your 'ultimate team' is getting backup."

"Aya."

The dark-haired girl whipped around at her name, and mouth instantly fell open a little. "Yoko!"

He was clad in a DATS uniform, and it seemed to suit him well with his muscular frame. He smiled sheepishly at her staring, but after a moment seemed to get his embarrassment under control. "I'm glad you decided to help us."

She glanced over at the other DATS members and felt her cheeks begin to glow. "Yeah, well." She crossed her arms. "This stupid Digimon got rid of our roof, so I wanted to give him payback."

Ryoko laughed lightly. "Right..." He reached over and grasped her shoulder. "You ready, then?"

Together the five of them and their Digimon partners stood their ground, facing their opponent who was set slightly aglow by the dim moonlight. They held out their Digivices, and Ayeka balled her fist, muttering back to her twin, "As ready as I'll ever be."

Fin.


End file.
